Bridge of Time By Lewis Buzbee

It's the last day of school for San Francisco middle-schoolers and best friends Lee Jones and Joan Lee, but it's a really bad day. First of all, each set of parents has chosen this moment to announce that they're getting divorced. Also, Joan's parents are moving her to a different school, and the BFFs are worried they're never going to see each other again. And just when it couldn't get any worse, their class field trip to the amusement park gets canceled and they get stuck going to Fort Point, in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge, for the gazillionth time instead. Disgusted, the two sneak off from the group to discuss their troubles, doze off in the fort's lighthouse, and wake up to the fort's cannon firing in 1864. Soon they're talking to a strange redheaded young man named Sam Clemens, who tells them quite a bit about how time is a river, but isn't so sure how they're going to get back home.

Lewis Buzbee's a very good, imaginative writer with both an ability to bring history alive and a real insight into the world and concerns of today's bright, engaged kids. Characters Lee and Joan ring true, even in improbable situations. Buzbee is quite fond of Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, and readers who find L'Engle too preachy may see a bit of the same going on here. For example, presenting Lee with a future version of himself telling him everybody's much happier after the divorce will strike many readers as smarmy. And not everyone will satisfied with how the author resolves all the book's issues.

On the other hand, between well-drawn characters, the history, the time travel, and the sheer local color of San Francisco over several centuries, Bridge of Time offers plenty to reward multiple reads.

This review was written by Mary Eisenhart-commonsensemedia.org